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Some Colorado websites go dark in protest of Internet-piracy bills in Congress

Wikipedia, Google and other national websites weren’t the only ones to go dark Wednesday in protest of two proposed Internet-piracy bills now before Congress.

Several websites in Colorado, including a few in Grand Junction, also protested the controversial measures.

Most notable among political followers in the state was the decision by ColoradoPols.com to link to a national website, sopastrike.com/strike, instead of posting its usual fare.

Although ColoradoPols.com does post original content, it’s primarily known as an aggregate site, one that routinely links to copyrighted news articles produced by newspapers around the state. Last year, the Denver Post threatened legal action against the website as a result.

“After much deliberation, the management of ColoradoPols has chosen to black out our website, starting at midnight tonight for the entire day on Wednesday,” the website posted on its site late Tuesday. “Colorado Polls will go offline as a protest against federal legislation: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate.”

While many of the Colorado sites that went dark lean toward the Democratic Party, several Republican lawmakers in the state came out against the measures or at least questioned them, including Rep. Scott Tipton, who represents the 3rd Congressional District.

“We must protect the intellectual rights of private property holders in the U.S.,” Tipton said. “I have concerns that the Stop Online Piracy Act in its current form, though well-intentioned, needs additional work before it would effectively end online piracy.”